973.7L63 

GD84a 

1927 


Drunpond,  S.A. 

Abraham  Lincoln:  The 
Ideal  American 

J^vcLr'C^  t  J 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN:    The  Ideal  ^4merican 

<%^  AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  THE  PACIFIC  BRANCH 

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SUNDAY,   FEBRUARY    13,1927 

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ABRAHAM   LINCOLN:    The  Idea/ ^^4merican 

'^^^^^HE  WHOLE  NATION  during  the  past  week  has  been  celebrating 
M  C'\  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincohi,  and  this  anniversary  occasion  furnishes 
B  J  an  excellent  opportunity  for  one  to  point  a  moral,  or  to  apply  a  gospel 

^^^^^r    lesson. 

It  is  very  interesting,  and  withal  profitable,  to  read  what  the  great 
editors  and  authors  of  the  country  write,  concerning  this  singular  and  outstanding 
national  character,  Abraham  Lincoln.  But  it  is  very  confusing  to  note  how  they 
differ  in  their  estimate  of  the  man,  and  to  note,  also,  the  reasons  which  they 
give  in  accounting  for  the  place  which  he  holds  in  the  esteem  of  the  American 
people. 

Most  interesting  it  is  to  find  that  such  a  character, — one  who  never  joined 
the  church,  and  who  never  made  what  some  people  call  an  open  confession  of 
religion, — should  now  be  a  hero  of  the  Christian  church,  and  his  principles 
accepted  as  principles  of  genuine  Christianity.  It  appears  to  me  that  the  one  man 
in  a  thousand  for  whom  the  preacher  was  looking,  was  found  in  the  immortal 
Lincoln! 

It  would  be  useless  for  me  to  turn  your  attention  again  to  this  great  man, 
were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  we  may  draw  from  his  life  and  character  this  lesson, 
that,  despite  his  greatness  and  his  attainments,  he  was  not  unlike  other  men  in 
the  essential  and  fundamental  things  of  life,  and  that  all  who  will  may  emulate 
his  example. 

When  one  attempts,  by  poetry,  or  oratory,  or  song,  to  put  a  man  like 
Lincoln  on  a  pedestal  beyond  the  reach  of  men,  one  does  a  great  deal  of  harm, 
instead  of  good,  and  disheartens  those  who  might  follow  in  his  foot-steps,  if 
they  were  encouraged  so  to  do. 

I  am  not  one  of  those  who  believe  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  so  far  above 
other  men,  or  was  so  different  from  his  fellows,  that  he  cannot  be  imitated  now. 
I  believe  that  he  can  be  followed,  and  that  others,  too,  may  attain  the  lofty 
heights  to  which  he  ascended. 

With  each  succeeding  year,  his  influence  grows,  and  his  words  are  stronger 
now  than  they  were  when  uttered.  His  masterpiece  at  Gettysburg  has  become 
now  the  example  of  the  highest  form  of  oratory;  and  yet  at  the  time  it  was 
delivered,  it  received  little  if  any  applause. 

Why  is  it,  that  his  liberation  of  the  slaves, — an  act  which  has  become  an 
inspiration  to  lovers  of  liberty,  the  world  over, — at  the  time  that  it  was  accom- 
plished, was  regarded  merely  as  a  military  necessity?  I  have  asked  this  question 
of  myself,  thinking  that  you,  with  this  spiritual  advice,  might  take  a  clear  view  of 
this  noble  character,  and  that,  from  our  consideration  of  this  matter,  we  may 
point  a  gospel  lesson,  pure  and  simple. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  so  different,  perhaps,  from  thousands  of  other  men; 
but  there  were  certain  circumstances  in  his  life,  however,  which  made  him  an 
excellent  example  of  that  in  which  he  was  different  from  common  men.  If  I  were 
to  say  to  young  men  who  may  hear  me  speak  these  words,  that  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  a  strange,  peculiar,  God-given  genius,  and  that  when  his  image  was  cast,  "the 
mould  was  broken,"  and  that  there  never  could  be,  or  never  was,  another  like 
Abraham  Lincoln,  I  would  be  simply  saying,  "Young  men,  it  is  of  no  use  for 
you  to  try  to  pattern  your  lives  after  his;  it  cannot  be  done!"  But  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  take  that  reasonable  view  of  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  that 
he  was  like  other  men  in  many  if  not  most  respects,  especially  in  things  elemental, 
but  that  he  was  especially  used  by  the  Providence  of  God,  and  that  there  were 
many  things  in  his  life  worthy  of  imitation,  we  have  furnished  an  incentive  to  the 
rising  generation,  to  encourage  them  to  rise  above  environment  and  circumstance 
and  to  become  men  of  influence  and  power  among  their  fellowmen. 

Abraham  Lincoln  realized  that  he  was  not  a  perfect  man;  for  he  well  knew, 
as  do  we,  that  there  was  and  is  only  one  Character  who  ever  walked  this  earth, 
who  should  be  held  up  before  the  ambition  of  young  men  and  young  women, 
and  that  was  and  is  the  Son  of  God.  And  it  should  ever  be  our  aim  and  ambition 


to  do  our  utmost  to  reach  the  highest  state  of  perfection  possible,  as  exemplified 
in  the  life  of  God's  only  Son. 

And,  therefore,  if  Lincoln  himself  felt  that  he  was  not  perfect,  why  should 
we  think  that  he  was — now  that  an  age  has  passed,  and  his  enemies  are  silent, 
and  his  friends  have  become  more  enthusiastic  about  him  with  the  passing-  years; 
when  we  have  not  reached  that  state,  as  a  nation,  where  we  can  extol  and 
worship  him  as  the  Chinese  do  their  ancestors? 

The  lesson  that  comes  down  to  us  through  the  years,  is  that  Lincoln 
was  the  nearest  to  that  Ideal  Manhood,  perhaps, — at  least  in  his  closing  years, — 
of  any  other  known  American. 

There  may  have  been  a  more  perfect  character  among  the  sons  of  men, 
of  whom  we  have  not  heard;  but  Abraham  Lincoln  is  an  encouragement  to  every 
young  man  in  this,  that  nearly  every  young  man,  to-day,  has  and  enjoys  more 
advantageous  circumstances  in  life  than  Abraham  Lincoln  ever  had  or  enjoyed. 

In  the  first  place,  Abraham  Lincoln  inherited  nothing  from  his  parents — 
in  body,  in  mind,  or  in  spirit — which  would  tend  to  set  him  above  his  fellows, 
or  for  which  we  need  claim  praise.  It  is  true  that  his  father  and  ntother  were 
of  hardy  frontier  stock,  but  his  father  was  more  or  less  shiftless,  and  to-day 
probably  would  be  classed  among  the  poor  whites  of  the  sunny  South;  for 
the  mountain  whites  to-day  are  somewhat  the  same  as  their  kinfolk  were,  who 
lived  in  Kentucky  in  the  days  of  the  Lincolns,  and  possess  somewhat  the  same 
characteristics. 

But  these  men  of  the  rnountains, — with  valleys  deep,  and  with  precipices 
steep, — often  make  character  of  a  certain  rugged,  noble  kind — and  of  that  type 
was  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Then,  too,  Abraham  Lincoln  inherited  no  money;  he  did  not  come,  into 
the  world  in  possession  of  funds  with  which  to  start  himself  in  life,  or  with 
which  he  could  secure  an  education.  I  want  to  say  to  the  young  men  who  may  be 
listening  to  me,  that  they  have  many,  many  advantages  which  Lincoln  did  not 
possess. 

Abraham  Lincoln  had  little  education  beyond  that  which  he  was  able  to 
acquire  through  his  own  efforts;  for  he  had  no  opportunity  to  go  to  school — 
probably  for  not  more  than  a  year,  all  told — and  up  to  the  time  that  he  was 
nineteen  years  of  age,  he  had  learned  little  else  than  "reading  and  writing,  and 
ciphering  to  the  rule  of  three."  He  had  been  brought  up  to  hew  wood  and  to  do 
odd  jobs  of  various  kinds,  and  consequently  had  none  of  the  helps,  such  as  those 
which  our  youth  n9w  have,  to  make  himself  a  great  man. 

Added  to  this  lack  of  educational  advantages,  Abraham  Lincoln  experienced 
many  unusual  misfortunes  which  might  have  overwhelmed  a  weaker  soul,  or 
which  might  have  held  him  back.  One  of  the  first  and  greatest  of  these,  was  the 
death  of  his  mother,  when  Lincoln  was  yet  a  lad;  and  the  sorrow  of  it  was  very 
poignant.  But  the  father  married  again,  within  a  year  or  so,  and  the  boy  had  a 
stepmother  to  help  and  encourage  him,  and  take  the  place  of  his  "angel  mother." 
Although  the  foster-mother  was  not  a  cultivated  woman,  she  did  much  to  instill 
in  the  boy's  heart  the  desire  to  improve  himself  and  to  rise  above  his  environment. 

There  are  few  young  men  of  all  my  acquaintances,  who  have,  or  have  had. 
the  disadvantages  which  Lincoln  had.  So,  I  say,  it  is  encouraging  to  boys  to  find 
that  one,  worse  off  than  they,  rose  to  lofty  station  and  received,  and  is  still 
receiving,  the  world's  encomiums. 

He  was  chastened  in  his  youth;  chastened  1)y  sorrow — sorrow  of  the  deepest 
kind.  Loss  of  his  mother  I  have  already  mentioned.  You  have  read  his  biography, 
and  I  need  not  dwell  longer  on  this  sad  event  in  the  life  of  the  boy  Lincoln. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  grief  over  his  childhood  loss  cast  a  shadow  over  him  which 
was  not  dissipated  by  the  passage  of  time:  it  clung  to  him  through  the  years. 

But  perhaps  the  greatest  chastening  was  the  death  of  the  maiden  to  whom 
he  gave  his  heart  in  his  early  manhood.  Lincoln  was  of  that  decisive  character, 
a  man  who  could  love  with  a  great  heart,  and  who  felt  sorrow  very  keenly. 
But,  in  spite  of  this  element  in  his  nature,  I  do  not  believe  that  he  loved  his 
betrothed  more  than  other  men  have  loved;  I  do  not  believe  that  his  admiration 
for  her  whom  he  intended  to  marrv  was  more  sincere  than  the  admiration  which 


other  men  may  have  for  the  women  of  their  choice;  nor  do  I  believe  that  he 
would  have  sacrificed  more  than  you  would  sacrifice  for  the  one  whom  you  love. 
But  to  that  life  there  came  the  chill  of  death,  and  he,  instead  of  leading  his  beloved 
to  the  altar,  followed  her,  heart-broken,  to  the  grave. 

.This  second  and  perhaps  greatest  stroke  of  sorrow  chastened  Lincoln  anew, 
broke  him  down,  reduced  him  to  a  state  of  melancholy  that  even  in  his  later 
years  seemed  never  to  have  left  him  entirely.  He  never  came  out  from  under 
the  burden  of  it,  even  in  the  dignity  of  the  work  he  had  to  do. 

He  was  chastened  often  by  defeat — by  some  very  bitter  defeats — not  only 
defeats  concerning  marriage,  in  his  first  and  deepest  love,  but,  again  and  again, 
in  his  attempt  to  do  something  for  himself.  He  tried  the  store  business,  but  it 
soon  failed,  and  he  was  plunged  heavily  in  debt.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  lived 
in  comparative  poverty  much  of  the  time  during  the  early  years  of  his  young 
manhood,  and  even  until  he  went  to  Congress;  for  it  was  not  until  then,  that  he 
succeeded  in  paying  the  last  cent  of  what  he  facetiously  termed  "the  national 
debt,"  occasioned  by  the  failure  of  that  earlier  business  venture. 

After  the  closing  of  his  store,  Lincoln  went  out  and  split  rails  for  a  living, 
and  about  this  time  was  elected  captain  of  a  military  company  in  the  Black  Hawk 
War.  Before  he  saw  any  service,  the  company  was  ordered  to  disband,  and 
he  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier.  It  is  not  often  that  we  find  that  a  man  is 
"promoted"  from  captain  to  private;  but  it  was  true  in  Lincoln's  case.  Then  it 
was  that  he  determined  to  study  law. 

As  a  lawyer,  Lincoln  had  had  no  special  training,  no  wide  reading.  I  do  not 
see  how  any  person  would  ever  have  engaged  a  man  of  his  training  and  experience, 
when,  as  a  young  lawyer,  he  first  opened  his  office  in  Springfield,  Illinois.  But 
Lincoln  soon  forged  to  the  front,  and  was  soon  able  to  hold  his  own  with  other 
lawyers  of  his  day,  traveling  with  them  the  old  Ninth  Circuit,  and  building  up  an 
enviable  reputation  for  ability,  honesty,  and  integrity. 

To-day,  we  ask  the  youth  of  our  land  to  look  at  his  character,  which  now 
stands  before  our  country;  one  whose  monuments  rise  in  almost  every  public 
square  and  park,  and  whose  life  and  actions  have  filled  libraries. 

Look  at  him,  young  men!  Look!  Your  chance  is  far  better  than  was  his! 
You  have  far  better  opportunities  to  improve  your  talents  than  had  he.  You 
live  at  a  time  when  the  doors  of  progress  are  open  wide.  You  live  in  an  hour 
when  men  can  rise,  and  rise  rapidly,  if  they  have  the  energy  and  the  character. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  truly  great.  His  influence  was  great,  and  his  spirit  is 
manifest  even  to-day.  We  must  all  admit  that.  But  what  was  it  that  made  him 
great,  and  beloved  by  his  countrymen? 

He  was  not  extraordinarily  endowed  with  unusual  intelligence.  He  was  born 
in  poverty  and  never  amassed  a  fortune.  He  was  denied  educational  advantages. 
He  had  to  hew  his  own  way! 

What  was  it,  then,  that  led  him  to  become  the  central  figure  in  our  history? 
What  was  it  that  enabled  him  to  do  deeds  that  impressed  the  ages?  What  wa.« 
it,  I  repeat,  that  made  him   the  great  map  that  he  was? 

It  was  his  true  Christian  character;  his  good  commonsense,  and  the  just- 
ness of  his  actions  toward  his  fellowmen. 

While  he  did  not  belong  to  any  branch  of  the  Christian  church,  yet  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Great  church;  he  was  a  true  Christian;  he  was  one  of  God's 
ideal  men. 

Lincoln  was  nearer  to  the  Ideal,  than  any  American  ever  known.  He  was 
an  upright  man:  uprightness  was  his  outstanding,  peculiar  characteristic.  Abraham 
Lincoln  possessed  all  the  great  traits  of  human  character,  making  him  a  well- 
rounded  and  noble  figure,  to  which  the  world  may  look  and  give  its  praise. 

A  man  may  be  a  great  inventor  in  the  use  and  mastery  of  words,  or  a  great 
inventor  in  the  realm  of  mechanics;  and  because  of  that,  receive  great  praise. 
Why  is  it,  that  Mr.  Edison  is  not  holding  the  same  position  in  the  estimation  of 
the  world,  that  Abraham  Lincoln  holds?  It  is  not  that  Edison  had  fewer  op- 
portunities than  Abraham  Lincoln  had.  Many  helpful  inventions  and  opportunities 
for  advancement  have  aided  Edison;  but  Al)raham  Lincoln  had  few,  if  any,  to  aid 
him. 


Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  great  man  because  he  had  a  great  and  good  heart, 
and  was  strictly  honest  and  honorable  in  all  his  dealings  with  his  fellowmen. 
He  was  an  ideal  man,  then,  in  his  heart;  and  being  an  ideal,  Christian-hearted 
man,  believing  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  and  praying  unto  God  for  help  in  time  of 
distress,  he  developed  that  four-square  character,  in  which  you  will  not  find 
a  flaw:  a  living,  moral  character, — and  that  is  the  type  of  character  that  the 
Word  of  God  in  endeavoring  to  build  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  men. 

Lincoln  was  characterized  by  still  another  faculty,  and  that  was  wisdom, — 
the  wisdom  that  is  mentioned  in  Proverbs;  the  wisdom  that  was  mentioned  by 
Jesus  Christ;  that  broad,  every-day  application  of  common  sense,  which  is  real 
wisdom. 

Real  wisdom  is  wisdom  like  unto  that  which  Abraham  Lincoln  possessed; 
that  sees,  every  day,  some  good  in  every  man.  He  was  a  man  who  could  recognize 
good  in  his  enemies,  as  well  as  in  his  friends;  who  showed  us  that  we  ought  to 
be  forgiving  toward  those   who  despitefully   use  us. 

Abraham  Lincoln's  life  was  a  special  exposition  of  that  disposition  of  forgive- 
ness and  brotherly  kindness.  He  spoke  kindly  of  the  South.  He  spoke  of  the 
Southerners  as  friends  and  not  as  enemies.  He  said,  in  his  First  Inaugural: 
"We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies." 

Lincoln  proposed,  before  the  war,  that  the  Government  buy  the  slaves  and 
set  them  free.  The  North  thought  that  the  greatest  possible  foolishness  and 
oppression.  What  a  great  saving  that  would  have  meant,  both  in  money  and  in 
men!  His  opponents  did  not  appreciate  the  logic  of  Lincoln's  argument:  they 
did  not  exercise  common  sense. 

Abraham  Lincoln  looked  out  upon  the  whole  field,  and  regarded  the  Southern 
people  as  mistaken  friends;  and  so  he  proceeded,  with  his  whole  heart,  and 
with  kindly  spirit  and  determination,  to  do  precisely  right,  in  bringing  about  the 
triumph  of  the  Union  cause.  When  he  was  assassinated  by  a  foolish  fanatic, 
there  was  put  a  martyr's  crown  upon  his  brow,  which  so  distinctly  called  attention 
to  his  noble  life,  that  his  illustrious  character  impressed  its  mark  upon  the 
ages  as  nothing  else  could  do. 

When  Abraham  Lincoln  was  murdered, — with  his  good  heart,  his  excellent 
intentions,  his  broad  commonsense,  his  statesmanship, — his  death  put  God's  seal 
upon  those  characteristics  of  the  man  who  brought  the  return  of  the  South  to 
the  Union,  through  a  teaching  which  has  made  the  Southern  states  a  solid, 
glorious  and  permanent  part  of  this  great  nation. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  an  upright  man, — such  as  cannot  be  made  by  clothing; 
such  as  cannot  be  made  by  money;  but  which  is  made  only  by  building  upon  the 
foundations  of  Christian  faith,  upon  a  large  and  loving  heart.  That  heart  had 
been  broken,  and  having  been  broken,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  God  permitted 
him  to  sulTer,  in  order  that  he  might  be  a  better  instrument  for  bringing  about 
peace  and  prosperity  to  this  great  nation,  and  for  the  setting  up  of  a  great  people 
whose  ideal  he  should  be. 

Abraham  Lincoln's  faith  and  broad  commonsense  showed  him  that  this  nation 
should  lead  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  in  bringing  them  all  up  to  that  standard 
of  Christian  fellowship  and  brotherly  love,  where  each  individual  and  each  nation 
should  do  unto  the  other  as  he  or  it  would  have  the  other  do. 

These,  then,  are  the  great  characteristics  in  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln: 
his  every-day,  sound  judgment;  his  great,  loving  soul;  his  prayers  to  God,  and  his 
faith  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  right.  With  malice  toward  none,  but  with 
love  for  all,  he  set  his  faith  in  God,  believing  that  righteousness  would  prevail, 
and  that,  at  last,  truth  would   triumph. 

That  makes  a  great  character.  A  small  character, — that  lives  within  its  own 

narrow  limits;  that  thinks  that  all   is   going  to  the   bad,  that  evil   is  everywhere 

extant,  that  the  good  are  ever  crushed,  and  that  the  wicked  are  ever  prosperous, — 

takes   a   small,    cv^inmonplace    view   of   life.    Lincoln    was   a    man   of   great    faith, 

ho  believed  that  all   things   were  working  together   for  good,    in   the    sight   of 

fod,  and  that,  somehow,  evil  would  be  crushed  and  righteousness  would  prevail. 

Abraham  Lincoln  lived  not  unto  h'mself,  nor  for  himself.  He  gave  himself 
unstintedly  and  unreservedly  in  the  servi'  of  his  fellowmen,  and  died  a  martyr 
to  the  cause  of  human  libertv.  ...  He  tn  as  the  ideal  American! 


ONE  HUNDRED  COPIES  OF  THIS  ADDRESS 
PRINTED  IN  THIS  FORM  BY  THE  BOYS 
OF  THE  SPANISH  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE 
PRESS,  GARDENA,  CALIFORNIA,  UNDER 
THE  DIRECTION  OF  EARLE  C.  AND 
MELVIN     S.     WOOD,     OF     WHICH     THIS     IS 


NO.- 


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